“China has chosen to overreact, using the President’s visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait,” and the US expects that “the Chinese will continue to react in the coming days,” said US National Security Council spokesman John. Kirby told Washington.
China is undermining “the goal of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region,” Kirby said, adding that the Pentagon would keep the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and its strike group “on station in the general area to control it.” the situation”.
“We will also conduct standard air and sea traffic through the Taiwan Strait in the coming weeks.”
Nancy Pelosi arrives Thursday afternoon at Yokota Air Force Base in Fussa, Tokyo. Bloomberg
Kirby said the United States would delay “by a couple of weeks” a long-planned test of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile scheduled for this week to reduce “the risks of miscalculation and misperception.”
China Central Television quoted a professor at the National Defense University of the People’s Liberation Army as confirming the missile’s route over Taiwan. “This can be seen as a clear signal to Taiwan authorities that the current exercises have surpassed all previous ones in scale and deterrence,” the state broadcaster quoted Meng Xiangqing as saying.
Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi condemned Beijing for its actions, saying it was the first time a ballistic missile belonging to the Chinese military had landed in the waters of its exclusive economic zone, Kyodo News reported.
“It’s another sign that China is much more assertive — and I would use the word aggressive, heavy-handed — in its approach to Taiwan,” said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Xi Jinping is under pressure to deliver a strong response to Nancy Pelosi’s trip, especially after some local nationalists were disappointed that Beijing failed to dissuade the US House Speaker. Bloomberg
Haass said the barrage of Chinese rockets reflects a “counterproductive foreign policy” that will “strengthen Japan’s resolve to integrate even more closely with Taiwan’s defense” and strengthen support for Washington to increase defense spending .
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US had recently engaged with its Chinese counterparts at “all levels of government” to convey a message of restraint after Ms Pelosi’s trip, a which Beijing called “a violation of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
“We, and countries around the world, believe that escalation serves no one and could have unintended consequences that serve no one’s interests,” Blinken said on Thursday, on the sidelines of a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia.
Taiwan’s presidential office issued a statement late Thursday saying President Tsai Ing-wen “solemnly” demanded China act rationally. Taipei is working with like-minded countries in the region on an appropriate response, the statement said.
Earlier in the day, China said an unspecified number of its missiles had accurately hit targets in seas east of Taiwan. The PLA’s Eastern Military Command said it had completed live-fire training and lifted relevant air and sea controls.
The PLA statement did not clarify whether that meant all military exercises had ended in six exclusion zones surrounding the island, which began at noon on Thursday and were to last for 72 hours.
At a regular briefing on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she had no information on whether all the drills had ended and referred reporters to the original timeframe of 4 to 7 august It has been reported that this period has been extended until Monday 8 August and the activity zones have been extended from six to seven.
The People’s Daily, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, said on Twitter that air and sea controls on Taiwan’s east coast had been lifted.
China earlier this week warned airlines to avoid “danger zones” around Taiwan after announcing its most provocative drills in decades in response to Ms Pelosi’s visit, including missile tests and live fire exercises. Pelosi promised Wednesday when she met with President Tsai Ing-wen that the US would not abandon Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry earlier said it was on high alert in response to the drills, which the agency criticized as an attempt to undermine regional stability.
Transport Minister Wang Kwo-tsai said airlines could use alternative air routes via Japan and the Philippines until the drills end on Sunday, while ships could avoid the six exclusion zones.
“Shipping is different from air traffic as there is no fixed route, it is more free,” Wang told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. “So what has been done in the past is to avoid areas where drills will be held.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping is under pressure to give a strong response to the trip, particularly after some local nationalists were disappointed that Beijing failed to stop Ms Pelosi’s visit. He left Taiwan on Wednesday and held meetings in South Korea on Thursday before leaving for Japan on Friday.
Separately, Southeast Asian foreign ministers urged “utmost restraint” in a statement at an annual meeting in Cambodia on Thursday. The envoys of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations expressed concern that the development “could destabilize the region and ultimately lead to miscalculations, serious confrontations, open conflicts and unpredictable consequences among major powers” , without naming China, Taiwan or the US.
On Wednesday, 27 Chinese military aircraft were spotted in the skies around Taiwan’s airspace, with 22 crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the most since the island began making the maneuvers public in 2020 Separately, Taiwan said it warned Chinese military drones. Flying near its islands of Kinmen and Beiding, both near the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen, on Wednesday night.
Bloomberg